Victor Wembanyama drills game-winner to lift Spurs past Suns, clinch team's first playoff berth since 2019

· Yahoo Sports

Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs have clinched their playoff berth. (Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images)IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters

Well, that's one way to clinch a playoff berth.

Victor Wembanyama drained a game-winner to lift the San Antonio Spurs past the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night. The 101-100 win was enough to officially secure the franchise its first playoff spot since the 2018-19 campaign, back when Gregg Popovich was still the head coach.

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Wembanyama, with the Spurs down by a point in the final seconds at the Frost Bank Center, caught an inbounds pass and stalled a bit on the wing. With time ticking down, he dribbled once and expertly hit a bucket over an outstretched Oso Ighodaro just outside of the lane. That shot, which fell with 1.1 seconds left on the clock, was enough to lift the Spurs to the one-point win and spark a huge celebration on the court.

Wembanyama finished with 34 points and 12 rebounds in the win. He went 10-of-20 from the field with three steals, too. 

The Spurs entered halftime in a seven-point hole, and slowly crawled back into the game in the second half. After Jordan Goodwin hit a 3-pointer for the Suns with 73 seconds left, the Spurs held them scoreless the rest of the way to spark the comeback win. Wembanyama hit a pair of free throws and then De'Aaron Fox made an easy bucket to cut the deficit back to a point, which set up Wembanyama's eventual game-winner.

Collin Gillespie led the Suns with 24 points and six assists in the loss, which dropped them to 39-31 on the season. Devin Booker finished with 22 points, and Ighodaro had 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. 

Fox added 23 points and seven rebounds for the Spurs. Julian Champagnie finished with 14 points, and Devin Vassell had 12 points. The win was the team's fourth straight, and their 20th in a 22-game stretch that has completely launched them up the Western Conference standings. They are now sitting in second in the West, three games back from the Oklahoma City Thunder and more than seven games ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers. 

While a playoff appearance was almost certainly going to happen this season based on how the Spurs have been playing in recent weeks, it's now a done deal. The Spurs are in.

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